a Thief to God himself On which we may note they all declare Tythes to be due jure Divino It would be too tedious to add the numerous confirmation of these Canons which were made afterwards in the Councils of Toledo Bracara Mentz Colen c. besides our English Councils of which more hereafter Now we will briefly observe what the Laws of other Kings and Emperours had done as to this matter before King Ethelwolph's Time The Famous Constantine the Great being settled in his Empire In the Lands under his Dominion out of every City he gave a certain Tribute to be distributed among the Churches and Clergy of the Provinces and confirmed this Donation to stand for ever (x) Hist Trip. l. 1. c. 10. It were endless to relate all the Constitutions of Pious Emperours either to enlarge the Revenues of the Church to preserve its Liberties or to secure the Donations made by others Let that one Law which is so full for the Divine Right of Tythes serve instead of many Instances The Tythes by God's Command are separated for the Priests that they which are of God's Famtly may be sustained by his Portion and therefore they cannot by any Humane Priviledge be given to Lay-men lest the Supreme Authority should therein prejudice the Divine Commandment (y) Cod. l. 7. Tit. de Praescrip A parallel Law to this we find in Authenticis tit eod But to come still nearer to King Ethelwolph he might know how the Religious King Riccaredus had confirmed the Decrees of the first Council of Hispalis about paying Tythes An. 590. Nor could he be ignorant what that most glorious Prince of his times Charles the Great Emperour of the West had done in settling Tythes on the Church about 100 years before King Ethelwolph's Donation This Emperour was so far from Idolatry that he called a Council to condemn the use of Images and writ against them himself And yet he in an Assembly of all his People offered and gave all his Tythes to God and his Ministers in a most solemn manner and obliged all his People to do the like And the form of the Dedication with the Curses against the Infringers thereof is set down at large in the Capitulars of Charles the Great (z) Wormat. l. 6. p. 285. And indeed before the time of King Ethelwolph Tythes were settled on the Church in most parts of the Christian World even by Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitutions as well as Voluntary Donation and all grounded on this Principle That Tythes were due jure Divino But it may be our Quaker's ignorance may perswade him that Ethelwolph was the first who gave Tythes in this Nation and I perceive all along he dates the very Birth of Tythes in the year 855. Wherefore I will shew him that he is miserably mistaken in that also Our Famous Lawyer Fleta expounding the word Church-esset saith (a) Lib. 1. cap. 17. It signifies a certain Measure of Corn which every one of old gave to the Holy Church about the time of S. Martin 's Feast as well in the time of the Britains as the English Adding that it was after called First-fruits So that by this Account there was a kind of Tythes paid by the Britains before the coming of Austin For the Saxon word Ciric-sceat signifies the Tribute of the Church Or else Ciric-set or sat that is The Church-seed as Mr. Lambert expounds it And also Malmsbury (b) Lib. 2. de gest Reg. c. 11. calls it The First-fruits of the Seed Another old MSS. in Spelman The First-fruits of the Seed belonging to the Church of that place where a Man dwells And Lindenbrogius calls it A Tribute of Corn out of the Fields I give the larger Account of this because that above 160 years before King Ethelwolph's time one of his Predecessors King Ina had made a strict Law about this matter Let the Caeric-sceat be paid on the Feast of S. Martin saith he and if any Man neglects it he shall for feit sixty Shillings and restore his Caeric-sceat twelve times over (c) Spelm. p. 192. Anno 692. It seems that here in England as well as in other Christian Countries the People had paid it voluntarily before And it was some decays of Piety that occasioned these Laws Now if T. E. desire to have the Name of Tythes as well as the thing among the Ancient Saxons he may find in the Epistle of Boniface to Cuthbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury (d) Apud Spelm. T. 1. p. 240. Ann. 745. That the English Priests in those dayes were maintained by the taking the Daily Oblations and Tythes of the Faithful Moreover about the year 750. Egbert Arch-Bishop of York of the Saxon Blood-Royal made a Collection of all Canons that were made in the Councils before his time and which were in force in England And these Collections seem to have been a Compendium of the canon-Canon-Law among the Saxons Now among these Canons there is frequent mention of Tythes viz. That the People be instructed in the right manner of Offering them to God's Church Can. 4. That the Priest shall take them and set down the Names of those who gave them Can. 5. That the People should not change that which fell out to be the Tenth Can. 99. That the Lord requires Tythes out of that which we get our living by Can. 100. Again in the Council of Chalcuth A. 787. All Men are strictly charged to give Tythes of all that they possess Because it is the Propriety of the Lord God or the Part that specially belongs to him Canon 17. If it be inquired what Laws our Princes made in this matter Not to mention all those Charters which from the first beginning of Christianity do confirm all the Liberties and all the Revenues of the Church among which were Tythes we will only note that Ethelbald King of Mercia An. 794. confirms to all the Clergy of his Kingdom the Liberty which they had out of the Woods the Fruit of the Ground and the taking of Fish And this being after that Epistle of the German Boniface which assured us Tythes were then enjoy'd by the Clergy must be meant of Tythes Again K. Offa who had with all his Clergy condemned the Adoration of Images and so was no Idolater An. 793. did give the Tenth of all that he had to the Church By all which it appears That from the time of the first general Conversion of the Saxons Tythes were generally paid by the People and received by the Clergy even before any special Laws were made about them And when Councils or Princes did make any Laws about them they always do suppose them paid before So that King Ethelwolph in this Donation doth rather confirm the Right of Tythes than originally make them due And it is to be noted that till this time the Saxons being divided into so many petty Kingdoms were in continual broiles and there was no one King who had power to collect
all the scattered Laws about Tythes and confirm them for the whole Kingdom of England till he who was the first Hereditary Monarch of the Saxon Blood He therefore guided by these forreign Authorities and Examples and led by the Custom Canons and Laws of the several petty Kingdoms and Kings doth now make this most famous Charter to oblige the whole Kingdom to this Religious Payment whose rise and original we have thus far seen § 14. 2ly As to the Donation it self the immediate occasion of it was the Compassion of this Religious and mild Prince towards his Subjects sorely infested and harrased with the Danish Invasions Whereupon he summons a General Council of all England at Winchester Anno 855. wherein were present Beorred King of Mercia and Edmund King of the East-Angles his Tributaries with the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York and all the Bishops and the Nobles of England with whom King Ethelwolph consulted by what means they might best avert the anger of God and obtain a removal of the sore Judgements with which the Nation was scourged at that time Whereupon it was by general consent there determined That the Tythes throughout all England should be granted to God and the Church as this Charter of K. Ethelwolph yet extant in Ancient Historians doth testifie which was subscribed by the two Tributary Kings the Bishops Abbots Dukes Earles and Noble-Men and consented unto by an infinite Multitude of other faithful People saith Ingulphus § 15. 3ly But lest there should be any defect in this Charter we will shew how it hath been confirmed since in all Ages First it was confirmed in that famous League between the Danes and Saxons by Alfred or Alured the Great Son of Ethelwolph and Guthum the first Baptized King of the Danes An. 887. and a Penalty added for such as should detain their Tythes (e) Leg Eccles Alured Guth c. 9. And again by Edward the Elder who was Son of Alured An. 906. And again by Athelstan Son of the said Edward in the Council of Gratelane An. 928. Tythes also by the Name of Decimas seminum Primitias are again enjoined by Edmund Brother of Athelstane in a great Council of the Clergy and Laity at London An. 944. King Edgar in open Senate renewed the Law for Tythes and made it a forfeiture of Nine parts to detain the Tenth An. 967. And in his Canons he calls Tythes Things which by Right are to be paid to God As they are also by Ethelred The Rights due to God when he confirmed the Donation of Tythes in the General Council at Aenham An. 1009. The same ratified also by Canutus and King Edgar's Penalty revived An. 1032. And lastly by King Edward the Confessor in those Laws of his which were collected and confirmed by King William the Conqueror at his Entring upon the English Crown as all other Kings of England since have done The particulars are too many to mention and the Thing is sufficiently known Wherefore we will only add that the very first words of Magna Charta the foundation of the English Liberties confirms all that had been given to the Church And Sir Hen. Spelman affirms these Grants had been ratified in thirty nine several great Councils and Parliaments before the Reformation And we all know that our Protestant Princes have confirmed the Right of Tythes as fully as any of their Predecessors and with their Protestant Parliaments have given greater strength and security to the Clergy in possession of them than ever they had before and made better Laws for punishing those who do detain them Now if all this added to the antecedent Divine Right will not amount to make a valid Deed of Gift then no Man can secure any thing to his Posterity For this Donation hath been advised by Fathers enjoyned by Councils practised by forreign Princes solemny made by the general Consent of the three Estates with the King frequently confirmed by as general Consent in every Age and the benefit thereof enjoyed for 800 Years by those to whom the Donation was made And thus the Clergy have a second Title to the Tythes They were originally due to God and afterwards freely given by the right Owners and that Gift confirmed by their Posterity Due by the Laws of God due by the Gift of the Owners and allowed by the Laws of Man which being thus far proved I hope our Quaker's trifling Objections will now easily be dispelled § 16. Three general Exceptions T. E. takes at this Charter First In respect of the Author of it pag. 289. And here he affirms King Ethelwolph was a Papist If T. E. had known what gives a Man the just denomination of a Papist he would not have discoursed so absurdly For it is not every one that agrees in some opinions with the Roman Church who is a Papist since then all Christians in the World would be Papists but he is a Papist who professes himself a Member of the Roman Church and acknowledges the Pope's Supremacy believing all the Articles of the Roman Churches Faith Now K. Ethelwolph did never profess himself a Member of the Roman Church but he and his Successors were Vicarios Christi (f) Leg. Hydens cap. 8. owning no Supreme in their Kingdoms but Christ as is learnedly made out against the Papists in Dr. Basire's Liberty of the Britain Church and Sir Roger Twisden's Histor Vindication and we shall fully prove on pag. 300. that he did not hold all the opinions of the Church of Rome and therefore was no Papist But if we should grant so much to the Quaker That Ethelwolph was a Papist yet neither would that make his Donation of Tythes void For an erroneous Opinion in the Person who doth a thing good in it self as we have proved Tythes to be doth not make the Act void And if all the good Acts of Papists in the true sense and all their Charters and Donations be void meerly because made and done by Papists then all the Charters of our Kings all the Endowments of Hospitals and Schools Magna Charta and all Publick Acts for some hundreds of years before K. Henry VIII would be void Which Principle would destroy the Maintenance of the Poor the Priviledges of Cities and the Freedom of all English Subjects But this Quaker must be more wary than thus to unhinge all Establishments and let him note That if Ethelwolph had been a Papist in other things yet in this Act he was none unless Abraham were a Papist before Christ's time and Origen with the Fathers afterwards yea unless our Protestant Princes and Parliaments be Papists also § 17. Secondly he objects p. 290. That Tythes were given to maintain the Popish Clergy This is a mistake also for Ingulphus saith Vniversam dotaverat Ecclesiam Anglicanam it was for the Maintenance of the English Clergy who had a Patriarch of their own in those dayes and were a Church of themselves not holding all the opinions of the Roman Church nor
THE Right of Tythes ASSERTED PROVED FROM Divine Institution Primitive Practice Voluntary Donations and Positive Laws WITH A JUST VINDICATION OF THAT SACRED MAINTENANCE From the Cavils of THOMAS ELWOOD In his Pretended Answer to the FRIENDLY CONFERENCE LONDON Printed for E. Croft at the Three Golden Lions in the Poultry over against the Stocks-Market 1677. To the Worthy AUTHOR OF THE Friendly Conference SIR IF I had not perused your Adversaries Book I should have thought it impossible for the most implacable Malice to have so basely misrepresented the Pious Design and Modest Expressions of your Friendly Conference But now I see that Quakers as well as Jesuits can make use of Equivocation and positive Vntruths when they dispute onely to uphold a Faction His mangling your Sentences and mistaking your Sense his forcing of Consequences from your misconstrued Words and taking his own wild Suppositions for acknowledged Truths are so obvious to an observing Reader that the Man is generally believed to have more of Confidence and crafty Wit than either of solid Learning or sincere Honesty And though in a Letter of his to a Quaker at York he brags that he hath shewed some little Learning in this Piece I dare affirm he hath but little to shew being onely happy in this that he writes to please an illiterate Sect. He may gull his unlearned Quakers into the belief that he hath read all those Fathers whose Names he cites but the Priests whom he reproaches are wise enough to discover he gleaned his Quotations up at the second hand out of Fisher against Bishop Gauden and some other obscure English VVriters which he hath also done with so little skill that when the Printer in Fisher had mistaken Fimicus for Firmicus this poor Retailer calls him Fimicus also pag. 115. And what he read in the same Fisher of one Basil his gross ignorance applies to Basil the Great involving himself thereby in the absurdity of asserting this monstrous and ridiculous untruth That Basil the Great refused to swear at a Council which was called above threescore years after he was dead pag. 165. But I will not anticipate your discoveries of his Ignorance by any more Instances because I doubt not but you will sufficiently convince the world that there is no reason why T. Elwood should pass for a Scholar among his own Party but onely because as himself saith p. 355. Asinus Asino Sus sui pulcher And when you have pulled off his Vizard his very Friends doubtless will begin to blush that they have adored so mean a Creature while he was covered with a Lions skin And I hope the discovery may tend to reduce them to the Protestant Church where they will find more ingenuous more honest and more able Guides I confess I once thought the justest return to his Ignorance and Malice his unjust Accusations and notorious Falacies was to answer them with silence But when I consider how easily so plausible a Discourse might seduce some well-meaning Men out of the right way or harden them in the wrong I judge it necessary to lay aside all consideration of the meanness of the Adversary and will not onely encourage you to publish the Answer which I hear you have prepared against this bold Antagonist but shall venture to cast in my Symbol also upon his last Chapter of Tythes Not that I delight to put my Sickle into anothers Harvest nor that I esteem you will need any Second against so easie and obnoxious an Opponent Your own Skill is so great your Cause so good and your fair Advantages against this Man are so very many that I make no doubt but you have already prepared a solid and judicious Confutation of all his Pretences as well in this as the other Chapters Yet I deem it not unfit to add these Papers for the following Reasons First Because I think this Subject of Tythes deserves a fuller and more particular Consideration than the brevity of your general Answer will allow Secondly Because the Argument of this Chapter is T. E's main device to alienate Mens minds from the Church of England and so to heighten our unfortunate Divisions wherein therefore he ought to be prevented by all just means Thirdly The obstinacy which the unhappy Quakers contract from such false Insinuations as these of T. E. in this Case of Tythes exposes them to more Sufferings than all their other Errors So that in pity to these ill-instructed Persons I would attempt their full satisfaction in this matter Lastly I think it not inconvenient to try whether it be not possible by variety of Methods and Arguments for us both to advance the same Charitable End viz. to rescue all mistaken Dissenters from their Prejudices against so pious a Donation for so necessary an End These were my Motives to this Undertaking And the Method by which I have proceeded therein is this First I have deduced the History of Tythes through Three eminent Periods of Time viz. Before the Law Under the Law and The Times of the Gospel wherein I have made it evident That Tythes were paid among the Patriarchs by Revelation among the Gentiles by Tradition and the Light of Nature among the Jews by a written Command from God the Father among the Primitive Christians by the Establishment of Christ and his Apostles I have shewed also That the most Ancient Fathers assert them to be Due to Christian Ministers That many Councils do suppose them and others enjoyn them to be Paid and That the Laws of divers Christian Princes did of old Confirm them Secondly I have vindicated the Donations and Confirmations of Tythes in this Kingdom proving that the Donors of them our pious Saxon Ancestors were neither Papists nor Idolaters but that they were Given long before Popery came in Confirmed by divers Princes and Parliaments in every Age and secured by good Laws after Popery was cast out So that they were as freely and rightly Granted as frequently and fully Confirmed and have been as long and as quietly Enjoyed as any Possessions in the whole Nation Thirdly I have considered all the particular Objections urged by T. E. against the Reasonableness and Lawfulness of Tythes and have made it appear that he hath blasphemed Almighty God reviled our Law-givers perverted our Laws slandred the whole Nation and contradicted himself and that he is mistaken in Scripture History Matter of Fact and every thing he meddles with So far is he from proving Tythes to be Jewish or Popish unreasonable or ridiculous a horrible Oppression or a foul Abuse as he insolently brags that he hath proved nothing but his own Ignorance and Dishonesty The serious consideration of which Particulars may convince all that are not blinded with wilful prejudice That Tythes are a pious just and reasonable Payment which were Religiously setled upon are Rightfully to be claimed by and ought Conscienciously to be paid unto the Ministers of the Gospel But I will not detain you longer in this
greater Burden than Rents It would seem a Paradox That Two shillings is a greater Burden than Twenty but onely that Nothing is so easie but it seems difficult when it is done unwillingly as S. Ambrose speaks (f) Hexam lib. 5. The Quakers pay Tythes grudgingly and of necessity and therefore they are a Burden to them for the same Reason that Alms are a Burden to the Covetous and Tribute to the Disloyal Subject But T. E. not content to discover his own base Humour measures all Mens Corn by his own Bushel and as it is the manner of such as are evil themselves he fancies all Men pay their Tythes with as ill will as the Quakers and impudently slanders the whole Nation saying He doubts not but if every Englishman durst speak his mind Nine parts of the Nation would cry Tythes are a great Oppression Wherein common Experience proclaims him a Liar there being very few Parishes where Nineteen parts of Twenty do not pay their Tythes freely as any other Dues and those who are refractory are onely such as this Seditious Libeller and his Party have stirred up There are some indeed who cry out against all Publick Payments and these do call not onely Tythes but the Landlords Rents and Assessments to the King and Relief to the Poor great Oppressions But such Persons Clamours are no Argument since the best and wisest part of the Nation pay their Tythes freely But T. E. alledges he hath Reasons to prove his Assertion by viz. 1. The Tenant hath the worth of his Rent of the Landlord but of the Priest he receiveth nothing at all I answer The Heir of an Estate charged with a perpetual Payment to the Poor receives nothing from the Poor to whom he pays the Money yet this is no Oppression Again The Tenant receives as much from God as he doth from his Landlord for we think that Land is not more necessary to the Increase than God's Blessing and upon that Consideration our pious Ancestors obliged their Heirs for ever to give God his part of the Profits because both they and their Heirs were yearly to receive all their Increase from his Blessing Of all things which God gives saith King Edward the Confessor the Tenth part is to be restored to him who gave us the Nine parts together with the Tenth (g) Leg. c. 9. Now the Priest is but God's Steward and Receiver and if it were true that the Tenant did recive nothing from the Steward of God yet he might justly pay him Tythes for his Masters sake from whom he receives all The Tenant receives nothing from his Landlords Steward and yet he pays his Rent to him or to any other whom his Landlord assigns to receive it But after all this the Quaker is a notorious Falsifyer in saying The Tenant receives nothing from the Priest for he receives his Prayers and his Blessing his Preaching and other Administrations which in S. Paul's account are worth more than ever can be compensated for on Earth 1 Cor. ix 11.2 But saith T. E. Rent is a voluntary Contract and Volenti non fit injuria but Tythe is not voluntary now but taken by force Very good By this Rule then it appears That Tythes are not as he falsly affirmed but now they were a general Oppression for the generality pay them willingly and many thousands contract with their Landlord and their Parson to pay them as voluntarily as they do to pay their Rents To all these therefore Tythes are no Oppression by T. E's own Rule Nor are they indeed any Oppression in themselves onely they seem so to such as pay them unwillingly to Quakers Atheists and Covetous Persons Yet all things are not Oppressions that are paid involuntarily for some Knaves will pay no just Dues to any without compulsion and yet such Payments are just though we be necessitated to take them by force Nor are all Payment Oppressions which we do not voluntarily contract for T. E. must beware of that Assertion for he never contracted with the King to pay him Hearth-money Custom Tribute c. and yet these are no Oppression But not to destroy his Rule Will T. E. be content with his Quakers to pay Tythes if I can prove they did voluntarily contract to pay them If so I thus make it appear Whoever takes a Farm either Tythes are mentioned in the Contract or they are not If they be mentioned then care is taken expresly that either the Landlord or the Tenant shall pay them If Tythes be not mentioned then the Laws of England suppose that the Tenant consents to pay them For Tythes are so known a Charge upon all Land the Laws have setled them so firmly and the Nation paid them so long that none can be supposed ignorant there is such a Charge upon the Land he takes to Farm and therefore if he take the Land liable to this known Charge and doth not expresly covenant his Landlord shall pay the Tythes both Law and Reason will interpret this a Consent and Contract to pay them it being to be presumed if he had not consented to this Charge he would have left the Land and it together The Quakers therefore must either take no Farms or if they voluntarily contract for the Land they voluntarily make themselves liable to Tythes and so they are no Oppression no not to them who had rather there were none to be paid For no doubt the Quakers could wish rather there were no Rent to be paid neither and they voluntarily covenant to pay Rent because they cannot enjoy the Farm without that Charge no more can they enjoy it without this of Tythes neither which like the very Rent is a kind of forced voluntary Contract also even to the very Quakers § 40. T. E. comes pag. 344. to his last Reserve viz. That Tythes were really purchased by the Owners of Estates Which if he can make out that alone will do his business and he thus proves it They purchased saith he all that was not excepted out of the Purchase but Tythes were not excepted therefore the Purchasers bought them and may sell them again This is the Quakers Law but if our greatest Lawyers have any skill this is a notorious falshood for they say Tythes are an Ecclesiastical Inheritance collateral to the Estate of the Lands (h) C. 2. par 13 b. in Priddle Napper's Case And more plainly Tythes are not extinguished by a Feoffment made of the Lands by a Demise of the Lands with all Profits belonging unto or out of the same they will not pass (i) 7 Ed. 6. Dy. 84.31 Eliz. in C. B. Parkins case adjudged Now what insolence is it for this Novice to make his Quakers believe that for Law which is contrary to the best Opinions and to plain adjudged Cases But his mistake will more fully appear by this Case A purchases an Estate in B of C the Tythes whereof are Impropriate and belong to D Now will the Quaker say
and Schismaticks saith S. Augustine (r) August 50 Epist ad Bonif. Com. to Bonifacius where he observes the Donatists used this very Objection which our Quakers now use and he learnedly proves That Gentiles were first to be invited in but when the Church is setled whatever straying Sheep wilfully leave the Fold these are to be compelled by Laws and moderate Penalties to return into the Fold alledging That to compel Men to that which is good is very lawful and an act of necessary Charity to their Souls yea a Duty of Christian Princes and a means which had brought many to see their Errors and repent Let T. E. read and answer the excellent Arguments in that Epistle if he can And withal let him observe it is not the Priests compel them but the Laws of the Land The Priests indeed see them in desperate Heresies and most wicked Schism and in pity to their Souls admonish them warn them 1 Thess v. 14. and labour to convince them by Arguments yea at length they use the Censures of the Church and finally as the last remedy complain to the Secular Magistrate to try if any thing will bring them to a better mind knowing that sometimes the rod and reproof give wisdom And this is no more than S. Paul threatned 2 Cor. x. 6. and acted also in delivering the incestuous Corinthian to Satan punshing his outward Man for the health of his Soul 1 Cor. v. 5. 'T is no more than a careful Father doth to his refractory Son Let not them therefore saith S. Augustine who being in Heresie and Schism are compelled to come in reprove us that they are compelled but consider whither we would compel them (ſ) August Epist 50. ut supra to Unity and Peace to a right Faith and to submission to their Governours to the Service of God and the Salvation of their Souls Nor doth our State use any Capital Punishments any Spanish Cruelties or Popish Fire and Faggot toward them but by moderate Penalties labours to reduce them which is no more than the first Christian Emperours did to reduce the Hereticks of those days by Fines Imprisonment banishing them out of eminent Cities burning their Books and prohibiting their Assemblies but still preserving their Lives in hopes of their Repentance And when our Magistrates imitate Holy Constantine and Theodosius herein the Quakers most unjustly call it Persecution § 50. He adds pag. 359. Christ gave us no power to demand a Maintenance from those who do not receive us Nor do we demand of the Quakers to give us one single Penny more than what was given to us and setled on us many hundred years ago we onely ask our own we onely ask that which the Quaker did not take of his Landlord that which was or ought to have been abated in his Rent If a Tenant be to pay an Annuity to a Lord as Free-Rent or to an Hospital or other Person will his saying he doth not receive him or them excuse him from paying the Money Our Lord JESVS owns us for his Ministers and the Laws of the Land own us and declare we are the Persons to whom this Estate belongs and what have the Quakers to do to dispute our Title any more than they do their Lords Title to his Estate The Papists pay us Tythes here in England and we should pay them if we lived in France If the State assign Tythes to a wrong Order of Men it is their fault But I am sure Tythes are not the Country-mans he may not keep them but must pay them as the Laws direct and is innocent in so doing Our Right to Tythes depends not at all upon Mens being willing or unwilling to come and hear us and the Quaker is sadly mistaken to think we come to sell them our Sermons or that Tythes are a Price which is the Quakers own to give The folly of all these Pretences was shewed before § 51. As for Going to Law for Tythes you have fully proved it lawful in the Conference and the Quaker answers not one of your Arguments so that till he reply to that I will onely note That it is much against our will that we are forced to sue for our just Dues and where a Legal Right is demanded the Sin lies at the Defendents door who will maintain an unjust Cause and force the Plaintiff to use this uneasie and ungrateful Method If it would not be too tedious I could shew him Examples of Primitive Gospel-Ministers upon the Churches Settlement requiring Justice of the Emperours against the Sacrilegious Invaders of the Sacred Revenue but it is time enough to produce Examples when he hath answered your Reasons already produced § 52. His Conclusion pag. 363. admonisheth me that 't is time for me to conclude also when I have made a Remark or two upon his pleasant Epilogue which I dare say would afford you as it did me the just occasion for a smile to observe what rare effects the happy conjunction of Ignorance and Folly have produced in your Adversary You said That the Quakers were quite different from the Primitive Christians which he thinks to avoid by calling it an old overworn Objection And truly as an Objection it is as old as the Quakers first appearance in the World but the Answer to it will be an unheard of Novelty And indeed the Quakers may be ashamed to let the Objection grow old and over-worn before they have either confessed the Truth or made some satisfactory Reply thereunto But the merriest passage is that T.E. who knows nothing of Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity and is a perfect Stranger to the Judgment and Practice of the Primitive Christians having scarce heard of the Names of the most Eminent Fathers as he hath abundantly manifested in this Book that he should challenge the poor ignorant Priests and attempt to threaten you into silence by daring you to dispute on this Question Risum teneatis Amici Doubtless if T. E. without going down to the Philistins of Rome should of a sudden become able to dispute well about the Doctrine and Discipline and Rights of the Primitive Church it would be the most famous Instance of immediately inspired Teaching that this Age ever saw And if he can prove that these Ancient Christians had no distinct Order of Men to Officiate in Divine things no Sacrament of the Lords Supper no Baptism with Water no Catechizing no Oblations at the Altar no separate Places for Worship and Set Forms for Sacred Administrations no Festival and Fasting Days no Kneeling at Prayers no singing of Praises nor answering of Amen c. he hath some rare Revelations sure about those Times and is able to confute S. Ignatius Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian Origen and the rest of those Eldest Fathers in Matters done in their own time A very grand Undertaking which none would have boasted of but T. E. and none but an undiscerning Quaker can be persuaded it is possible to be